Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The electro drive is great, but covalent bonds beat ionic

The electro drive fans make for stable rotation of the fan exhaust, something very difficult with mechanical drive.

But we can replace 1200 pounds of battery with 600 pounds of efficient motor-generator. Then you get 600 pounds of fuel. New, lighter weight piston engines, and turbo-electric options are available. Liquid fuel will always win these races, possibly over hydrogen fuel even. The hydro carbon bond carries energy. The best environmental bet is to make sustainable hydro-carbons from atmospheric CO2 and sun. Difficult, yes, but we are consistently getting closer.

A farmed hydrocarbon would beat batteries in sustainability for short production runs of a few planes, because the battery supply chain is not up to snuff. It is ten years before we have a surplus of batteries to carry them around in helicopters. Advances in hydrocarbon technology takes advantage of existing engine systems. Biggest payoff, research in generating hydrocarbon fuels, and use the carrying capacity of atmospheric co2 without overloading it.